Science Proves That The Ewoks Likely Didn’t Make It At The End Of ‘Return Of The Jedi’

Since 1997, and with the help of some comics during Star Wars‘ tenure at Dark Horse Comics, a theory has been floating around regarding the reality of blowing up the second Death Star above Endor’s forest moon. This theory is known as the Endor Holocaust and it doesn’t bode well for the Ewoks (and by extension, the heroes of Star Wars). The short explanation revolves around the shattered remains of the Death Star raining down upon the helpless Ewoks and anybody else on the moon’s surface, essentially killing them all. This is all part of the established canon now and housed snugly with the rest of the Legends content, but that doesn’t mean the canon is realistic.

Tech Insider had a group of physicists look at the real data surrounding the destruction of the Death Star above Endor and what it means for the surface dwellers. Tech Insider based it around Purdue University’s Dave Minton’s research on the topic, using this 3D schematic shown in the film to provide a real life answer to the question.

Umm, why would it fall to the planet all of a sudden? It’s in orbit and after it exploded, only a small percentage would fall to the planet at that time. Much of it would end up in a higher orbit while the rest would be dispersed in various other orbits that would decay in time randomly dispersing the mass of the death star around the moon. So, no!